What a pickle. Love Island presenter Caroline Flack is in court facing assault charges after her boyfriend model and ex-tennis player Lewis Burton summoned the police and ambulance services following a domestic dispute on December 12th. Reports indicate she hit him over the head with a lamp after reading what appeared to be a cheating text on his phone. She’s pleading not guilty and he’s withdrawn his allegations despite the police saying it looked ‘like a horror movie’ when they arrived and having not only the 999 call on record but also bodycam footage. Both are bewailing the judge saying they can’t have contact over Christmas.

She was born 9 November 1979 and he 23 March 1992. She has form for younger lovers having once hitched with Harry Styles when he was 17 and she 31.

She’s an intense and uncompromising Scorpio Sun conjunct Uranus squaring onto a volatile Mars in Leo; with her Mars in a determined sextile to Pluto and trine a publicity-attracting Neptune. Her Neptune is in a (marginally paranoid) square to Saturn in Virgo. She also has an emotional Cancer Moon which is likely to be in a possessive square to Pluto.

He is an upfront Sun Mercury in Aries with possibly a Sagittarius Moon, a highly-strung Uranus Neptune in Capricorn; and more significantly a forceful and compulsive Mars in Aquarius square Pluto, with Pluto also in a stubborn square to Saturn in Aquarius.

His Pluto is conjunct her Sun Uranus and his Mars square so it is a volcanic combination – and then some. Wow.

Their relationship chart has an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction in a sparky and passionate trine to Mars (conjunct Algol) maybe trine a Virgo Moon – a very earthy connection.

She’s having a downbeat 2020/21 with tr Pluto trine her Saturn. No matter what happens in the March trial she’s lost her presenting TV job. And the relationship understandably is under tremendous pressure from tr Pluto conjunct the composite Sun and Venus.

Emanuel Ungaro, the last of the grand Paris couturiers, has died aged 86. He trained under Cristóbal Balenciaga, worked briefly with futurist designer André Courrèges, before launching his own label in the mid-1960s. The Telegraph obituary says: “He became known for his flamboyant use of pattern and elegant draping, and was once described as “arguably unique among his peers as a heterosexual man creating dresses for the bodies that he worshipped”. Evidently he kept a Sigmund Freud poster in his office with his quote despairing that he would ever find the answer to the question ‘What does a woman want?’

He was born 13 February 1933 2.30am in Aix-en-Provence, France, to Italian parents who fled fascism, his father a tailor. He had a sharp-witted 3^rd house Aquarius Sun on one leg of a Yod sextile innovative Uranus inconjunct Jupiter. A Jupiterian yod can have considerable social influence.

He also had an 8^th house Pluto which can also indicate the ability to wield unseen power over the masses and it was in a revolutionary square to Uranus.

He had an interesting collection of Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, Moon in Virgo – interesting because my recollection is that it threw up a fair number of notables that year. Mars Neptune is good for attracting publicity and glamour; Mars Jupiter is confident and pro-active, willing to take risks; Moon Jupiter fond of women.

He had other inconjuncts of Neptune quincunx Saturn, Sun to Pluto and Moon to Mercury – not a fitter-in, a man who walked his own road.

The movie season is experiencing extremes of reaction with the eighth film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women getting unanimous plaudits and five-star rave reviews – in contrast to the furry disaster of Cats. The story of four sisters coming of age during and after the US Civil War opens in this movie version with Alcott’s own words “I have had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales.”  Her jolly tales were to prove a lodestar for many 20^th century women inspired to mark out an independent path for themselves.

She was born 29 November 1832 12.30am Germantown, Pennsylvania, with a maverick, experimental educator for a father who was domineering, overbearing and a failure, so much of her childhood was spent on the move with the family. She was forced to go out to work young as a companion, seamstress, teacher and then volunteered as a nurse to Civil War soldiers. She wrote constantly throughout and gradually started to make sufficient money to support her family and pay off their debts. Little Women was a huge success in her mid 30s onwards. She was a trenchant abolitionist and feminist and was still an ‘irrepressible’ spinster when she died at 55, within days of her father, perhaps from an auto-immune disease but also debilitated by mercury poisoning from a typhoid fever cure years earlier.

She had a quick-witted and communicative 3^rd house Sagittarius Sun; with an emphasised Mercury in Sagittarius in the domestic 4^th square both Saturn and Jupiter, so no surprises she wrote about family life. Her stalwart Mars in Taurus in the 9^th, oddly enough conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol, would also contribute to her ability to publish successfully. But for all that she had a tough chart with an Earth Grand Trine of Mars trine Saturn in Virgo trine Neptune in Capricorn in the performing 5^th house. It would give her a good business head and practical skills, as well as a knack for attracting publicity, but it would also make for a life strewn with setbacks and obstacles. That Grand Trine is formed into an even more talented Kite by Neptune opposition a Cancer Node, which latter would propel her towards becoming the feeding hands for her family.

Her creative 5^th Harmonic was very marked; as was her writers’ 21H.

Greta Gerwig, the director, who is attracting top marks for this effort, was born 4 August 1983 in Sacramento, CA, and also has a peculiarly heavy chart with Saturn Pluto in Libra square Mars in Cancer. She is a Leo Sun trine Uranus and Jupiter in Sagittarius with fits well with Alcott’s; and her Venus Mercury in Virgo also chimes with Alcott’s Venus in Capricorn.

Gerwig looks to have several mountain ranges to climb ahead with tr Pluto opposing her Mars in 2020/21 and then squaring her Pluto Saturn till 2023 Sagittarius Sun so her next project, an improbable Barbie film may prove more of a chore than this one.

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Louisa’s father Amos Bronson Alcott, born 29 November 1799, was a visionary, philosopher, reformer and cultured man of letters who exercised a profound influence over his friends Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women’s rights, though his wife evidently thought he didn’t appreciate her contribution to keeping the family ship afloat.

He was born the same day as Louisa so was a Sun Sagittarius in a controlling square to Pluto on the cusp of his 5^th house and trine Saturn in Leo on his Midheaven. He would be attention-demanding, controlling of his children with Pluto in the 5^th; a proud man, driven to be thought of as someone of substance. His Saturn squared onto a less than wholesome Mars Neptune in Scorpio so he’d certainly be stubborn. He also had a T Square of Jupiter in Virgo in the educational and philosophical/spiritual 9^th house opposition a 3^rd house Mercury in Sagittarius squaring a revolutionary Uranus. He wouldn’t be steady but he would always be trying to forge new paths.

He shared Louisa’s Mercury in Sag as well as her Sun; and his Jupiter fell in her 10^th so he would be instrumental in making her successful. His Moon was conjunct her Venus which would give a good emotional connection. Despite his temperamental failings they were relatively similar and would have moments where they felt in tune.

The upcoming Capricorn Solar Eclipse on December 26^th at 4 degrees is conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus, leading to optimistic predictions of bountiful rewards. Though Jupiter isn’t always positive in mundane astrology since its expansive tendency will amplify good and ill alike.

However in the interests of festive cheer another Jupiterian Solar Eclipse around in mid-1954 in Cancer coincided with the birth of rock n’ roil, Bill Haley and Elvis’s first single. So there should be some good-news spin offs and plus points.

The Saros Series of this particular Eclipse, according to Bernadette Brady, does coincide with the sudden ending of an association or a relationship with a large emotional component and a sense of traumatic transformation. Which certainly fits Brexit. Previous occurrences of this eclipse series:

December 2001 – aftermath of 9/11, the Afghan War, Enron bankruptcy – that was accompanied by a much more aggravated Saturn square Mars, and opposition Pluto.

December 1983 – not much stands out.

23 November 1965 – Southern Rhodesia declared illegal independence from the UK (UDI). That had the Eclipse inconjunct Jupiter.

12 November 1947 – horrific Eclipse in Scorpio square Mars Saturn Pluto – Partition massacres on the India sub-continent; Brits withdraw from Palestine. Princess Elizabeth marries.

1 November 1929 – aftermath of Stock Market Crash, two days before. Palestinian riots. That had the Eclipse inconjunct Uranus, and a destructive Mars trine Pluto.

This December 26th Eclipse chart also has the Saturn Pluto conjunction less than two degrees to exact in sextile to Mars in Scorpio, so there will be challenges and heavy tensions as well. It will spark off the UK, Germany and EU Capricorn Suns; as well as the USA Jupiter Venus in Cancer – so a challenging time which could include crises in the months following because of the imperative to change. If change is resisted then force majeure kicks in and it happens in a much messier fashion. The USA’s Venus involvement could point to an emotional upset and feeling unloved. The eclipse opposing the USA Jupiter may bring up trust issues and disappointment.

It will be especially on point for Washington since it puts the Eclipse and Jupiter closely conjunct the IC – planets on the angles always indicate major events in that location. Located to North Koreas it puts an aggressive Mars on the Descendant. And also Iran with Mars Midheaven when located there.

The following Lunar Eclipse on 10 January 2020 at 19 degrees Capricorn is opposition the Saturn Pluto conjunction so will be powerful, potent and perhaps destructive or at the very least sombre in mood and restrictive. It’s very keyed up for Washington with Mars conjunct the Descendant and North Korea with Mars conjunct the Ascendant. And very close to Trump’s Saturn Venus in Cancer.

The UK National Health Service was a foreground election issue for both major parties, more in voters’ minds even than Brexit. Wild and extravagant promises were made about funding though it remains to be seen whether much will change for an overloaded system creaking badly.

It was founded 5 July 1948 giving a caring Cancer Sun square a healing though not always practical Neptune; a tough and enduring Saturn Pluto in Leo; and an adventurous and overly hopeful and scattered Mutable T Square of Jupiter opposition (Moon) Venus, Uranus Mercury in Gemini square Mars in Virgo.

The chaotic and tumultuous tr Pluto square tr Uranus has been battering on the NHS Sun and Neptune in recent years; and tr Neptune will start undermining the T Square from 2021 – first by squaring Jupiter and opposing Mars in 2021/22 which will bring disappointments about failures/lack of money and of direction. Tr Uranus will also square the NHS Pluto in 2021/22 so there may be an attempt at a revamp and rethink. But tr Neptune will continue on almost to mid decade squaring the Moon, Venus, Uranus and Mercury – so it’ll be a swampy path ahead.

The problem with a free state health service as most countries are discovering is that they are economically unsustainable – plain too expensive to run. Even France which had a glittering reputation in this regard can only run theirs with stupendously high taxation and individuals in France don’t even get 100% free. Everyone has to take out a top-up private insurance to cover the difference. The UK has become over-entitled about the NHS doing everything for everyone with trivial emergencies overloading the system so patients in real need don’t get sufficient attention; and people are unwilling to pay for anything.

Independence for Scotland was regarded as a racing certainty if Boris and pro-Brexiteers won the election. The SNP took 47 out of 59 Scottish seats which seemed to seal the deal but sober economic assessment hints the prospects are not good, never mind Boris digging in his heels about another referendum. Over 60pc of Scottish exports go to the rest of the UK with just 18pc to the EU; Scotland’s public expenditure per head is significantly higher than the whole of the UK giving it a budget deficit of 7pc of GDP compared to 1.1pc for the UK.

From an economic point of view the situation has deteriorated since the last referendum in 2014. The costs would be prohibitive with at least a decade of financial trauma, welfare cuts, and systemic austerity on a staggering scale to follow any breakaway.

Which isn’t to say Nicola Sturgeon will throw in the towel. Her Cancer Sun square Jupiter is catching the tr Pluto hard aspects to both 2021 to 2023 which will see her revved up and raring to go.

She’s a mighty antagonist for Boris with her Pluto in Virgo squaring his Sun Venus; and her determined Saturn in Taurus conjunct his Jupiter and opposition his Neptune – she’ll tussle endlessly with him and rain on his parade.

The Scotland 16 March 842 AD JC chart worked well on Scotland’s entry into the 1707 merger with England (see post November 3 2019). It indicates confusion and indecision with tr Neptune square the Solar Arc Pluto and Sun in 2020 and more as Solar Arc Neptune is conjunct the Sun in 2021. And nothing much of note thereafter, certainly nothing as significant as the 1707 marriage between the two countries.

The 1 May 1707 Scotland Act which started the new partnership does have tr Uranus conjunct the Taurus Sun and square Pluto and Jupiter in 2020/21 so there may be movement towards an adjustment in the terms of agreement but nothing as major as a separation. Tr Uranus has been round every 84 years and nothing split on those occasions.

The relationship chart between Scotland 842 and the UK is also showing signs of turbulence and a shift between 2020 and 2022. But again nothing likely to lead to a complete split away.

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Even top-class talent occasionally make a turkey. Cats, a musical fantasy film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage show, with a glittering ensemble cast of James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson with Steven Spielberg executive producing has hit excoriatingly bad reviews. “A purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe”; “a jaw-dropping feline folly”;” poorly conceived and executed”; “a tail better left untold”; “improbable and entirely indescribable”; “destined to go down in glorious infamy”; “a cross between Glee and hell”; “a sinister, all-time disaster from which no one emerges unscathed (zero stars out of five)”; “a rare and star-spangled calamity.” Rotten Tomatoes gives it one out of five stars and 17% approval. Ouch.

Director Tom Hooper has had some successes in the past with The King’s Speech, Les Miserables, The Danish Girl but this is clearly going to go down as a blot on his record.

Principal Photography kicked off on 12 December 2018 with a Sagittarius Sun square Neptune Mars in Pisces – so lots of showbiz dazzle but Neptune has a nasty habit of fizzling out – and given Neptune also squares Jupiter it didn’t get off on the best of footings – high hopes lead to disappointment. Bad reviews don’t necessarily go with bad box office but with tr Neptune closing the conjunction with Mars over the next few weeks which usually indicates failure and Neptune continuing to square the Sun in 2020 it looks a touch flat.

Tom Hooper, 5 October 1972, London, is an innovative Sun, Uranus Mercury in Libra with a super-determined Mars Pluto also in Libra. Tr Neptune is trailing across two of his midpoints till late January dampening his morale; with an uncertain tr Neptune square his Saturn in Gemini from late April 2020 on into 2021 as well. Not his shining hour.

Boris’s deal now appears to be – sign up to leave the EU at the end of January 2020 and crash out, deal or no deal, on 31 December 2020.

2021 always did look when the real financial shock would come with tr Uranus conjunct the UK 8^th house Mars picking up from May 2021 onwards. The eight year phase of tr Uranus through the UK 8^th house of business and international finances started mid 2019 and runs till 2027 which tends to be an erratic time, not all a disaster but unstable and unpredictable. What will make it all the more disruptive is tr Uranus moving from the disaster-prone and highly insecure conjunction to the UK Mars in 2021, onto the square to the financial Venus in the speculative 5^th and opposing the financial 2^nd house Neptune in 2022 and early 2023; and finally square the 11^th house Saturn in 2023/24 which will affect the country’s legislature and future plans.

So a very rocky period indeed on the economic front. Tr Uranus will rattle that wide Fixed Grand Cross on the UK chart which will bring jolting and not always welcome surprises as it tries to force through changes on against resistance. And it could start with a major accident or disaster of sorts as well since that UK Mars tends to throw up horrors.

Heavily Fixed charts don’t cope well with too much change. The same is true of the EU chart which starts is facing massive financial jolts from July 2020 onwards as tr Uranus is conjunct its 8^th house Taurus Moon and squares Uranus, moving on to buffet its Venus in 2022 – but its period of instability will be shorter, finishing around 2024.

In 2021 as well – tr Pluto will conjunct the UK Mercury/Pluto midpoint for intense and hostile debate; and tr Pluto will square the Uranus/Neptune for a sense of calamities and catastrophes; and tr Neptune will square the Mars/Jupiter midpoint bringing feelings of inferiority, failed relationships, plans with no hope of working out.

There will be setbacks through 2020 as well, which I’ll cover in more detail in the general year ahead round up – but not as far reaching as in 2021.

I’m never sure Solar Returns work too well for countries. But for what it’s worth: January 2020 for a year could be OK cash-wise and certainly will be a spendthrift year with Jupiter in the 2^nd; though muddled and discontented at an internal domestic level with Moon Neptune in the 4^th. The year 2021 may be when the Boris government’s failings coming home to roost with Mercury Pluto Saturn Jupiter in the 12^th opposition a 6^th house Moon. 2022 looks directionless and tight for money with Neptune in the 10^th and Saturn in the 8^th.

The relationship charts between the UK and Boris look to be sagging in confidence through 2020 with tr Neptune opposition the composite Mercury and Uranus; and more undermining of trust and hope in 2021/22 with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter. 2022 will be a fractious year with the tr Saturn square tr Uranus starting to hit on the composite Neptune and then Mars a year later. Mars Neptune in a relationship chart usually indicates a relationship imbalance with only one side winning. If Boris gets what he wants its’ not good for the UK; and vice versa.

The UK relationship chart with Boris’s Svengali Dominic Cummings (25 November 1971) is on even more of a Neptunian downhill slide with tr Neptune squaring the composite Pluto, Mercury and Sun over the next three years. It’s a Plutonic connection so one side wants all the power and control. Usually this kind of relationship has the capacity to transform both sides, for good or for ill.

His Pluto is conjunct the UK’s Uranus; and his Uranus is square the UK’s 10^th house (ruling classes) Moon – so he will want to disrupt the normal order of things. His Saturn in Gemini opposition Sun Neptune squares onto the UK Pluto – his ideals about what is best for society will run into resistance from status-quo upholders.

In many ways what is even more interesting is Cummings’ relationship chart with Boris which is very loaded – with a controlling composite Sun Pluto conjunction; and more so a ‘fated’ Yod of Pluto sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars. Such relationships tend to lead to crucial turning points in each of the individuals lives as well as in their environment. But the underlying dynamics of this particular chart are very stressed with an aggravated composite Saturn Mars; a power struggling Sun Pluto which works well for a while but usually ends badly; and an unstable Pluto Uranus Venus. That has the capacity to blow up very nastily at some point.

Cummings has Boris exactly where he wants him – but I’m still perplexed by both their charts, neither of which show any jubilation at such a resounding win.

The stupendously expensive Grand Tour, a hasty rehousing of Top Gear in Amazon after Jeremy Clarkson was ousted from the BBC for bad behaviour, is getting lacklustre reviews in its fourth season. Though more have been commissioned ahead.

The intrepid trio of Clarkson (11 April 1960), Richard Hammond (19 December 1969) and James May (16 January 1963) are a good mix for a speed-freak, macho, petrolhead show with Clarkson’s Aries Sun chiming with Hammond’s Sagittarius Sun and May’s Mars in fiery Leo.

Clarkson may drive the show but it’s the relationship between Hammond and May that really points to the extraordinary success of the long running venture. Their relationship chart has a lucky composite Sun Jupiter; with an Earth Grand Trine of Mercury trine Mars trine Uranus Pluto, formed into two or maybe three Kites with Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn, Mars in a showbizzy opposition to Neptune and perhaps Mercury opposition Moon.

All of them have prominent confident Jupiters – Clarkson with his in Capricorn trine Pluto; Hammond in Scorpio trine Mars; and May in Pisces opposition his Pluto Uranus and square Venus.

But the tensions run at a high octane level as well, not surprising given Clarkson’s Mars in Pisces opposition Pluto leading to his legendary temper. That clashes with Hammond’s Mars in Pisces; and Hammond’s Uranus Pluto in Virgo opposition Jupiter. So there will be sniping and snapping and flare-ups.

Clarkson has been labouring through two years of tr Pluto square his Sun and hitting on his Saturn before that – which all finishes this month – and that would bring about a radical change in his life and outlook.

James May has tr Pluto conjunct his Capricorn Sun to look forward to in 2021/22 which looks like an all-round bumpy phase for him with tr Uranus square his Saturn as well.

There’s a fair sprinkling of Neptune ahead for all three with the likelihood of the Grand Tour stuttering to a halt at some point. But none of them will be short of a bob or two, so the only concern will be how to fill the idle hours.